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Am I doing the best job possible? Am I a great worker at work? Can I do better?

I think I’m doing well. I have a good initiative. I create things. I make the code as clean as possible. So I think I’m doing quite well. Can I do better? I’m sure. It’s a constant struggle and I constantly have to put an effort into it. But it’s a good goal to have.

I learned a great photography tip yesterday. Not really new, but still. Getting closer. If I’m trying to show something, get really close. As close as I can. If there are distractions, make the aperture wider. Also, try hitting it from a side. It’s really a nice technique that should really be helpful when shooting babies, or my kids. I should get as close as possible when I can.

It’s my son’s birthday today! He’s 2 now. He’s such a great little kid. Unbelievable.

I should get a nice tax refund this year. It looks like it might be around 5K or so. That’s great. Looking forward to that.The only outstanding issue that I have is with Wells Fargo not being ready with tax forms. I have to wait till Feb 14th. OK, I will. SInce entering 30 items individually is a bit painful.

I have a new goal now. I want to be an expert tester.  I want to improve my testing knowledge. I want to improve my knowledge on how to write effective tests. I want to get better. 

I am learning algorithms as time allows. I already learned about simple O(n2) sorting: Insertion, Bubble and Selection. Still need to write code for the insertion sort, but I have found out that doing it slower is better. Better since I can think it over some more. It’s better since I can take a deep dive on it. I’m slowly changing how I learn, and that’s a beatiful thing.

Waking up at 5am has its downsides… i feel really tired after 9pm. I don’t know what it is, but watching a game after that almost always puts me to sleep.

Yesterday was a super bowl. Most important game of the season for the Giants. And I fell asleep in 4th quarter! 

Should I change it? I don’t think so. I just have to try to get some more sleep and I think I should be fine. It’s just how my body reacts… it’s telling me it needs more sleep. Its internal clock is working. Is there something wrong with that? I don’t think so.

But the Giants are the super bowl winners and that’s what is important! Giants! Giants!

My son likes something to do. I want him to be occupied as well. So I have a new project for him and he’s very excited! We’re going to install a bird feeder in our backyard today! He’s excited. I’m excited. Mommy is happy. 

I need to do more of that. I need to find things to do for them. It can’t be just me. It can’t be that we’re not doing anything. I need to get him involved.

Whether it is just going to the library, or to the movies. Whether it is doing garage cleanup work, I need to get my boys involved.

That is my chance to stay closer to them. It’s my chance to connect to them. And this is my chance to create memories for them. They might remember some of the moments forever! We remeber feelings not things, so if one of these things makes them feel good, great!

It’s looking less and less likely that I will go back to poland. At least not for a looooooong time. Why? Perhaps a better question is, why move? For what?

I feel relatively safe here in the US. Living is on a high standard. Things are working for me.

Poland on the other hand, has pretty much only one thing there: better social life. Perhaps. It’s different if you only go there for vacation.

Watching the news, watching how the police works, how the hospitals work, how the roads look — it’s not a pretty picture. Watching how the politicians work is even a worse!

And there is the whole Europe. I have come to realize that America dominates for a reason. There is a reason why the smartest people like to come here. There is a reason why US has the best universities. These things are not just “like that.” They take work. They require infrastructure. 

So the prospects are dimming, though the lights are not fully out. But my previous date of 2015 is unrealistic. 2020, perhaps, if not later, or if at all.

One benefit of writing a journal every day is… a side benefit. Sometimes, I can convert a journal entry to a blog entry! I did that yesterday and it worked very well. I was writing about how to be an effective learner.

It’s been almost a week since I started writing in the morning. It’s also nice that I can write on a weekend, which did not happen before, when I was leaving for work.

So it seems like writing the entry as the first thing on a computer is working very well! I am adopting it! 5 minutes or so every day doing a worthwile thing is a great thing!

I write, write, write, and the time tick, tick, tick. Yes, it’s been close to 5 years since I started writing. It’s really cool. When I’m going to be older, I will look at it and read it, and it’ll be really cool. BTW, I should be reading some of it every day.

Am I really an effective learner?

Just so we’re clear and in context, that’s one of my goals. I want to learn to remember. And the only way I know how to do that is if I do something with that information. But what? I can write about it. That’s #1. I should, as being an active blogger is one of my goals as well. I should read more than one reference on the subject. That’s #2. Reading mutliple books, articles on the subject makes the knowledge deeper. And finally, to seal the deal, I should apply the knowledge. If it’s a related to programming, my profession, I should write a sample program. Applying is knowledge is not always easy, and might actually consume the most time. But without it, I feel, we’re not going to put the knowledge into our long-term memory. And depends on the scope and compexity, we might have to apply it multiple times.

So to answer the question, I am slowly trying to transition to being an effective learner. I used to learn a lot by reading. But that’s shallow knowledge and easily forgot it. Now I’m trying to make the learning deeper… learning less but more.

My little son Victor is amazing. He’ll be 2 soon. But the way he behaves, the way he acts, the way he talks, is really astonishing. He loves to play with puzzles. He loves to read books — on his own! He also loves when we read books to him. He can occupy himself for at least half an hour.

We love him so much!

Learning and practicing is hard. At times, I feel like browsing the net. At times, I feel like spending time on amazon. I need to limit those activities at work. Simple, I should not allow myself to do them outside of lunch hour. I could still get caught up with that, but it should improve the situation.

I have a lot of ideas of the things I could do in retirement. I could work on creating different applications. I have quite a few options and that’s why I think things should be interesting in retirement. If all goes well, I have at least 20 years more of working! 🙂

One way to beat a bad habit is not to totally eliminate it, but rather limit it. So far, that’s been working fairly well for me. For the most part I stick to it. I have one bad habit that I think is a waste of time. But I keep doing it. And when I don’t put a limit on it, then I do it way too many times. So I limit it to twice a week.Sometimes it’s hard to stick with it, but overall, I feel I’m doing the right thing and not abusing it. It’s been a very good development for me.

Am I spending enough time with my sons? Am I helping them grow? Am I stimulating them? I think so. For the most part, again. 🙂 I am a lazy bastard. I am occupied with myself too much, but that’s really who I am. So I will always fall for that. But other than that, I like to play with my kids. We’d be playing outside more now. I’m going to get a soccer net soon. It should be very fun. I think my sons will enjoy it and I will as well.